PLEASE revisedraft Executive Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Problem

Attendance issues have become a significant concern at the Service Desk, to the point where they have begun to negatively impact customers attempting to reach the Service Desk in an emergency. With the loss of the Service Desk Supervisor, the director has mandated that employees report to the office no more than once or twice per week. This is to assure that phone lines are transferred to the after-hours emergency lines at precisely 0700 Monday through Friday and 1530 Monday through Friday. Some employees have viewed the absence of a supervisor as an opportunity to avoid coming into the office and instead rely on the other person in the office to transfer phone lines. There has also been an increase in the number of employees arriving after 7:00 a.m. and the number of untransferred lines. Additionally, on teleworking days, certain employees do not answer their emergency line, causing customers to seek answers from department leaders. Frequently, these absences occur without notice and attempts to contact the individual result in unanswered calls.

Impact of Problem

In extreme cases, these attendance issues have caused emergency calls to go unanswered and no one to be present in the office to transfer lines to teleworking employees. This not only disrupts operations but could also have significant effects on government property and customers if these urgent requests are not handled promptly.

Solution

Employees who consistently miss in-person duties should be documented, and in such cases, teleworking privileges should be revoked until the employee is deemed trustworthy. To prevent instances in which teleworking employees do not answer emergency calls, the person in the office on that day should call and confirm that teleworking employees are answering the phone.

Implement Solution

Absence of Employees

1. Employees who miss in-person duties should be logged as absent for those shifts.
2. Depending on the number of absences in a given week or month, a meeting will be conducted with the employee to determine the root cause of the absences. These meetings will also cover the fact that a persistent absence without leave can be considered AWOL and that an employee can face termination or other disciplinary measures if there are sufficient documented instances of AWOL.
3. If the employee continues to miss meetings, teleworking privileges will be suspended until the employee is regarded as trustworthy again.

Employees Not Answering Telephone Calls

1. In-office employees should confirm that teleworkers are answering the phone after lines are transferred.
2. If a teleworker does not answer the phone after two attempts, the in-office employee should designate them absent and transfer the line to an available worker.
3. Depending on the number of absences in a given week or month, a meeting will be conducted with the employee to determine the root cause of the absences. These meetings will also cover the fact that a persistent absence without leave can be considered AWOL and that an employee can face termination or other disciplinary measures if there are sufficient documented instances of AWOL.
4. If the employee continues to miss meetings, teleworking privileges will be suspended until the employee is deemed trustworthy again.